Remember being told when you were a kid that if you swallowed any of the seeds inside an apple, the fruit would start growing in your stomach? And then learning later that it was all a joke? Well…turns out that might not be so far from impossible. The Russian publication Mosnews.com is reporting that a 28-year-old patient was found to have a five-centimeter fir tree in his lung.

Doctors were performing a biopsy on the patient, Artyom Sidorkin, after he’d complained of intense chest pain and was coughing up blood. They suspected cancer, but instead of finding a tumor when they cut the lung tissue, they reportedly found green needles. They continued, in alleged disbelief, to remove an entire branch from inside Sidorkin’s body.

The medical team believes that the blood Sidorkin had been coughing up was a result of the needles poking the capillaries, and that the branch grew inside his body after he swallowed a small bud—since clearly, the branch was not swallowed whole.

Wouldn’t the sapling need some sort of light source to be able to grow?

Dude

Hmmm, definitely gonna need some more details.

Grant H

“CA Oracle Says:
April 13th, 2009 at 7:21 pm
Wouldn’t the sapling need some sort of light source to be able to grow?”

No, not at first. Without light, it would eventually die, but the plant could live and grow without light for some time.

But, I’m surprised it could survive the acidic environment of the stomach. And I’m sure the human body would have other functions to eradicate the foreign… tree (I couldn’t think of what else to call it

Research Biologist

Has anyone considered the fact that plants produce thousands of not so robust offspring to ensure that SOME survive, and that the immune system (which by the way is rather robust) would interfere with germination of seeds immediately?

Grant H

“the immune system (which by the way is rather robust) would interfere with germination of seeds immediately”

Yes, but the article says he may have swallowed a small bud, not a seed. I’m not 100% sure what they mean by “bud”, but I assume they mean a small piece of a tree (maybe a new sprout starting to appear between two twigs) and the tree grew the same way a cutting would.

Grant H

But the story is still surpising, assuming it’s not a hoax.

Moomoo

These kind of stranger than strange news coming out of Russia (and before from USSR), historically been hoax. Given that history, I’d be more inclined to dismiss it.

Exactly how is a bud going to get from your stomach to your lung? It would have to be digested to pass through the intestine wall into the bloodstream — it’s way too big to do it as is. So I call shenanigans.

NewEnglandBob

I do not believe this story.

Doctor Evil

This is just a branch that he inhaled. The soft tissue surrounding the inhaled branch cause an abnormal growth. The growth incoincidentally continued to grow. Benign tumor.

Darman

Well while the plant maybe could grow some in lung tissue due to the water content there is no way the plant would be green with no light source.

Grant H

“Darman Says:
April 15th, 2009 at 12:41 am
Well while the plant maybe could grow some in lung tissue due to the water content there is no way the plant would be green with no light source.”

It would be a little bit green without sun, but more like a greenish-brown.

Still, a tree growing in a lung, I’m not at all convinced about this.

Vernon

Although it makes for fun and interesting reading, this is impossible! looking close at the picture it is obvious that the twig was placed in the lung tissue of possible an animal! anything larger than a grain of sand would be rejected by coughing, and if not it would be isolated and incased by tissue to protect the rest of the lung. the tree is clean of any mucus or material! (ANOTHER HOAX)

I was amazed when my friend shared this news with us over lunch yesterday. We obviously discussed how this is possible. Well, quite certainly the fir bud/seed is inhaled either through the nose or mouth somehow went down the windpipe and then into the lungs. Given that this 28 year old guy is not too fat, I reckon our bodies are somewhat opaque thus sunlight does shine through. The moisture and temperature in this man’s lungs was probably suitable for germination and it grew. Hard to believe as it seems, we must do achknowledge that just because it has not happened before, doesn’t mean that it is an impossibility. Look at Susan Boyle…she doesn’t look at all like she can sing. But boy, did she sing! I was so moved as I watched the youtube clip. She is blessed with a voice from Heaven.

I’m Me

Wow this is scary. My friend sent this email link to me and we discussed how it could be real or not. We voted that it could be real. But then we got scared that we would have a tree growing in our lungs! What a scary thought!

Me

Well they found it in the lungs, not the stomach. He breathed it in.

Jacketss

People…looking at the picture for a few seconds, begs a big question! Must be half a lung there…why would it have to come out too??? Hoax?

Although it makes for fun and interesting reading, this is impossible! looking close at the picture it is obvious that the twig was placed in the lung tissue of possible an animal! anything larger than a grain of sand would be rejected by coughing, and if not it would be isolated and incased by tissue to protect the rest of the lung. the tree is clean of any mucus or material! (ANOTHER HOAX)

Vernon, I know that it may be a hoax, but you must consider the possibility that the tissue and fluid around part of the seedling were removed, and the rest of what we are looking at is benign growth of tissue around the foreign object that temporarily protected the man from further damage to his lungs’ functionality. As It grew it became uncomfortable and dangerous, but I could imagine this man could cough for months without going to the doctor, and even then, it was the bleeding that made him get checked out. perhaps it was not visible in tests, and this “tumor” is what led to its revelation.

Some theoretical possibilities, assuming the case was true if the plant was a parasitic one: by germinating inside someone’s lung and rooting on the tissue, it could sap the mineral it needs from the blood and the lymphatic fluids. water could be absorbed from the moist climate of the lung. a parasitic plant may or may not need sunlight to grow.

however, a fir tree is not parasitic, and a lung may not provide habitable environment for the plant. assuming it was a common fir species, then the one that should be the problem should’ve been the roots, not the leaves.

This is very true. My uncle went to the hospital after coughing up a stick, and they found a tree growing in his lungs. I am not sure what kind. This happened about a year ago. I just found out about this from my mother.